4 ms·

Many people thought Alicloud would eat AWS/Azure/GCP's lunch in the developing world, since they expanded really fast and priced aggressively. But there's a li

Many people thought Alicloud would eat AWS/Azure/GCP's lunch in the developing world, since they expanded really fast and priced aggressively. But there's a limit to what even extremely price-conscious customers will accept, and their service quality and support was just not up to scratch. Chinese manufacturers are steadily creeping upmarket though: Haier, BYD, Xiaomi, DJI, Anker etc are all producing increasingly solid hardware with software that's distinctly not great, but tolerable (and certainly good enough to compete with Japan/Korea, who don't exactly shine on this front either).

alephnerd 2y ago
> But there's a limit to what even extremely price-conscious customers will accept, and their service quality and support was just not up to scratch I totally agree! I've worked on Chinese CSPs and they are annoying. IMO they could have been much better, but they are extremely insular and fall into the same trap of lack of localization that I mentioned in my comment.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
Those companies you listed, especially DJI and Anker, are the exception rather than the rule. In my experience living there for 6 years, Chinese companies at all levels tend to cut corners too easily and focus on short-term profits. Very few are capable or willing to put in what it takes to establish a brand that can compete with Western brands. DJI was helped by being in a relatively new market without long-establish brands, Anker to a similar extent (and also produces less expensive products). It's much easier to buy a foreign brand (like Geely with Volvo) than to try to establish your own brand internationally. Even huge companies like BYD, Huawai, and Xiomi (smaller but very popular in China) have not made headway except in less developed countries.

4 ms·

Many people thought Alicloud would eat AWS/Azure/GCP's lunch in the developing world, since they expanded really fast and priced aggressively. But there's a li

by resolutebat 2y ago

alephnerd 2y ago
> But there's a limit to what even extremely price-conscious customers will accept, and their service quality and support was just not up to scratch I totally agree! I've worked on Chinese CSPs and they are annoying. IMO they could have been much better, but they are extremely insular and fall into the same trap of lack of localization that I mentioned in my comment.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
Those companies you listed, especially DJI and Anker, are the exception rather than the rule. In my experience living there for 6 years, Chinese companies at all levels tend to cut corners too easily and focus on short-term profits. Very few are capable or willing to put in what it takes to establish a brand that can compete with Western brands. DJI was helped by being in a relatively new market without long-establish brands, Anker to a similar extent (and also produces less expensive products). It's much easier to buy a foreign brand (like Geely with Volvo) than to try to establish your own brand internationally. Even huge companies like BYD, Huawai, and Xiomi (smaller but very popular in China) have not made headway except in less developed countries.